38:3 Get ready for a difficult task 1 like a man;
I will question you
and you will inform me!
40:7 “Get ready for a difficult task 2 like a man.
I will question you and you will inform me!
1 tn Heb “Gird up your loins.” This idiom basically describes taking the hem of the long garment or robe and pulling it up between the legs and tucking it into the front of the belt, allowing easier and freer movement of the legs. “Girding the loins” meant the preparation for some difficult task (Jer 1:17), or for battle (Isa 5:27), or for running (1 Kgs 18:46). C. Gordon suggests that it includes belt-wrestling, a form of hand-to-hand mortal combat (“Belt-wrestling in the Bible World,” HUCA 23 [1950/51]: 136).
2 tn See note on “task” in 38:3.